New Territory
by Littlescribe
Summary: Tension grows between Damon and Elena..


_Just a short fic highlighting the growing tension between Damon and Elena. Thoughts welcome!_

**New Territory.**

Arms folded, Elena stood in the dark clearing, struggling to clear her mind of a jumble of thoughts, to empty herself of the emotions threatening to engulf her.

_Get a grip. Get a damn grip of yourself._

_Think._

Elena was tired of thinking. She had been thinking for days now, ruminating, planning, hiding her thoughts from friends and family as she put her plan together. The conversation with the Salvatore brothers was enough to provoke her into action this morning, for despite their assurances about moonstones and witches, there was only ever one acceptable solution.

Surrender.

Once made, her decision was strangely soothing. The hours of constant worry, the crippling fear for the people she loved all eased with the knowledge that Elena could save them, all of them, with the simplest of sacrifices. Her life for theirs. One final glance around the kitchen and she was gone. Rose was easily recruited, her own thirst for a life outside darkness enough to entice the vampire to help Elena. The others were distracted with the efforts to reclaim the moonstone and it was easy for Elena to escape them. Or so she had thought.

_You're an idiot. Rose was sleeping with him,__ of course she had some sort of twisted loyalty to Damon. You had time to consider that, to get away, to meet Cody elsewhere._

A single lapse in judgement and she was rewarded with the appearance of one Damon Salvatore. Alice's face had changed and Elena spun around, instantly caught in Damon's unforgiving gaze. Her heart plunged, her breath caught in sudden and utter disbelief, a single thought suspended in her mind.

_Damon is here._

Rose and Alice were muttering behind them but Elena was lost in Damon, immersed in the energy that crackled between them as she pitted her will against his. They had battled before as their friendship grew and twisted and bent, his acerbic wit, her reproaching eyes, her vehement anger, his quiet apologies. They managed to dance around one another, with one another, to safe ground, to compromise and back to a strengthened friendship. Things today however, were very different. Damon was different. He towered above Elena, unyielding and relentless in his desire to keep her safe. Her words, her thoughts were irrelevant, Damon would have his own way in this. The world swirled around her as he melted away, to bark orders at Rose, to compel Alice, to confront Elijah, to sweep her into the car and drive her back to Mystic Falls. Elena had begged and argued and pleaded but Damon remained grimly determined, to interfere, to stop her at every turn. He was down there now in the tomb doubtlessly telling Stefan everything.

_Damn him._

The crushing weight of a thousand worries settled back into the pit of her stomach. Her friends were in danger. Stefan was trapped. They were exposed and vulnerable and her link to Klaus, her link to safety for all of them was gone. Tears welled and Elena angrily wiped them away. She couldn't just sit back and watch everything fall apart. Elena needed Damon to stop fighting her. Mid pace, Elena paused and considered that thought. Damon _did _listen to her, Damon always listened to her. Impossible as it seemed, Elena was the only person that could exert anything close to control in the vampire following his return to Mystic Falls and in the year since she and Damon had become close, connected. He listened when she spoke. Suddenly reassured, Elena allowed her mind race away with this new possibility. She could convince Damon that she was sorry, that she had been foolish. She would convince him to let her see Stefan, to have her own private goodbye before she left him to slip away and be found by those who sought her. By those who would spare her family in return for her own llife.

_Damon__ was right. Look at you Miss Manipulative. You're more like Katherine than you care to admit._

Elena subdued the thought. There wasn't time for honesty or principles. Klaus was coming. She had to do what she could, even if it meant lying to the Salvatore brothers all over again.

Damon heard her heart beating as he climbed up the stairs. It had slowed from the quick, angry beats in the tomb when Elena pressed her rage and fury against him. The vampire paused in the tomb entrance, his eyes quickly picking her out from the darkness. Elena was sitting on a tree stump, eyes fixed on the entrance, waiting for him. It took her human eyes a moment to distinguish him through the darkness and then she was on her feet, pacing toward him.

"Damon," Elena slowed before him, her eyes softer now. "I'm, I'm sorry. I know you're just looking out for me."

Damon eyed her with mild surprise. He had expected another assault from Hurricane Elena. Instead, she stood before him now, moonlit and beautiful, her expression worried and hesitant. "It's okay," Damon said finally, "It's been a hell of a day all round. Let's just get you home."

"Wait," Elena stepped closer, her hand resting on his chest, "Damon, please, can't I speak with Stefan? I just need to see that he's okay."

Her hand, light and intimate warmed him. Elena warmed him. Her small anxious face was upturned to him and Damon wondered just when he became so hopelessly drawn to her. Elena was essential to him, making it easy to resist her now. Shaking his head, Damon reached for her elbow, "He's fine Elena and he doesn't want you down there either, we don't need another Gilbert nibble for Lady Katherine today."

Elena shook him off, fire flashing in her eyes, anger heating her face. "If you would just…" Damon watched as Elena stilled suddenly. She smothered the emotion that flooded her face, took a steadying breath and found a half smile. "Damon," Elena said gently, "Please, we've always been able to talk about things, to work things out. If you just let me see Stefan tonight, I promise I'll go along with whatever decisions you make. Just be reasonable." She frowned pleadingly, "Be my friend, Damon."

He knew it, instinctively. It was there in the nervous shift of her shoulders, in the vague unease of her gaze, in the measured control of her emotion.

_She's playing me._

Fear drummed in his chest. He could no longer trust her. Somewhere along the way, Elena had lost faith in them, in him and instead seemed intent upon this path of self sacrifice. She was infuriating and a problem. There was the Stefan trapped in the tomb problem, the Elijah problem, the werewolf problem and now the Elena problem. She was prepared to lie and manipulate to get her way in this and Damon was equally determined to stop her. He eyed her grimly. He and Elena, they were officially in new territory.

"You don't need a friend Elena," Damon said, allowing a hint of menace trickle into his voice, "You need someone to look out for you. So you can cut this little act you're playing out here and start towing the line. Got that?"

Pretence fading, Elena's face darkened, "Damon, you can't just.."

"Shut up," Damon said harshly, watching as Elena recoiled with shock. Grasping her arms, Damon leaned closer, his face hovering over her own. "You don't get to talk your way out of today, what you did?" He trapped Elena's unwilling eyes with his firm gaze, "It was completely unacceptable. You crossed a line Elena. You lied to me, you hid from me and you tried to die today." Inching closer, Damon watched with grim satisfaction as Elena flinched. Close as they were, he could still intimidate her and tonight, he needed Elena Gilbert to feel intimidated. "You don't get my friendship right now," Damon murmured, "You get my protection whether you like it or not." He waited until she was completely still in his arms, her body taut. Easing away, Damon released her, suddenly feeling tired. "Just get in the damn car, Elena."

Elena looked away, face trembling. She glanced at the ground, gave a half shrug and turning, trudged towards his car. Damon fought the urge to pull her back, to hold her, to talk her free of the insanity gripping her. Instead, he followed, comforted by the thought that for now, Elena Gilbert was safe.


End file.
